The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing stationery products, such as steno pads, exercise books and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus for producing stationery products of the type wherein one edge face of a stack of overlapping paper sheets or the like is bonded to one marginal portion of a so-called flap-over cover sheet.
In heretofore known apparatus for the making of such stationery products, the stacks of sheets and the flap-over cover sheets are transported in the same direction through and beyond a plurality of stations. Such stations accommodate means for maintaining a stack of cover sheet blanks, means for singularizing the cover sheet blanks, means for coating one marginal portion of each cover sheet blank with adhesive at one side of the respective sheet, trimming and cutting means for the cover sheet blanks subsequent or prior to the application of adhesive, as well as means for folding over the marginal portions of the thus obtained cover sheets so as to facilitate their application to the edge faces of the corresponding paper sheet stacks.
The assembly of stationery products which flap-over cover sheets in such apparatus presents problems because the cover sheets are unlikely to be in exact register with the corresponding stacks at the time of attachment of their marginal portions to the corresponding edge faces. This affects the appearance and the quality of the ultimate products and leads to a high percentage of rejects. Moreover, the bond between the marginal portion of a flap-over cover sheet and the selected edge face of the corresponding stack of paper sheets is not reliable if the alignment of the marginal portion with the edge face is not perfect. The making of such products normally takes place in a production line wherein the stacks and the cover sheets are transported along a straight path at right angles to the selected edge faces of the stacks. Such apparatus occupy much room which is not always available in a paper processing plant.